G12 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI. 



upon or from which they can comfortably suck the honey. All parts 

 of the flower are smooth and slippery, and the only way in which an 

 insect can support its weight is by inserting its claws in the slits 

 between the anthers. In endeavouring to take firm hold, the insect 

 draws its claw from one end of the slit to the other, and so becomes 

 attached to the clip-like organ at the back. When the insect's foot is 

 withdrawn, the two pollinia adherent to the clip are dragged out of 

 their niches. One of the claws on that foot is then seen to be wedged 

 between the arms of the clip, whilst the two pollinia are suspended from 

 it. " The clip-like organs will be readily distinguished in Fig. 3 of 

 the accompanying plate. It is coloured brown and is Y-shaped in 

 the illustration* It would be interesting to follow still further the re- 

 marks of Professor Kerner Von Marilaun and trace the destination of 

 the pollen-masses so torn away from their seat and to see how they are 

 conveyed to the stigmas of other flowers. For, without doing so, this 

 description of the pollen-masses must necessarily remain incomplete. 

 " The question is, " says the learned Professor, " where are these stigmas 

 to be found ? The pentagonal central column, surrounded by the five 

 anthers, contains the ovary in its interior. The approaches to this organ 

 lie through the so-called stigmatic chambers which are situated close 

 beneath the truncate end of the column, and open outwards. The 

 chambers are concealed in the slits, just as were the clip-like organs, 

 and insects occasionally come across them as they move their claws 

 about in the recesses. If the foot inserted by an insect has pollinia 

 already attached to it, they are thus introduced into the slit in 

 a new flower, and as the insect feels about for firm support, it 

 thrusts the pollinia into the stigmatic chamber. When the foot 

 is subsequently withdrawn, the ligatures attaching the pollinia to 

 the clip are broken, and the pollinia are left in the chamber, whilst the 

 actual clip maintains its grip of the claw. " It may be stated 

 here that the above quotation refers to the flowers of Asdepias 

 cornuti but the learned Professor remarks that other members of 

 the Asclepiadece have essentially the same mechanism, though differ- 

 ences in detail of course occur. I am persuaded to believe that the 

 process of fertilization in the plant I am describing is not materially 

 different from that depicted above in connection with Asdepias 

 cornuti. 



